On which side of the 'uncanny valley' would you place the robotic child in the above video? Researchers at Osaka University are developing a robot in the form of a 1-to-2 year old child, with the idea that it should be so realistic that it will elicit natural responses from human caregivers, enabling studies of human social development that can't otherwise be documented from the perspective of the child. For more information, see Automaton's article and this paper by the researchers.

To date, although robot designers have achieved very precise movements, such movements are performed at very high speed, require strong forces and are power consuming. This approach cannot be applied to robots that interact with humans, as a malfunction might be potentially dangerous. To solve this challenge, University of Granada researchers have implemented a new cerebellar spiking model that adapts to corrections and stores their sensorial effects; in addition, it records motor commands to predict the action or movement to be performed by the robotic arm. This cerebellar model allows the user to articulate a state-of-the-art robotic arm with extraordinary mobility.

Having noticed a recent trend towards robotics companies releasing videos with high production values, this one caught my eye. Aldebaran Robotics is hiring, and produced an edgy video called Shape the World to call attention to that fact.

In the latest episode (#108, July 13th, 2012), Robots Podcast talks with Andra Keay, cofounder of Robot Launchpad, a robotics startup accelerator based in Silicon Valley, about recent events, lean startup methodology, funding, and gender. (Her Masters thesis project on “the Naming of Robots” explored how roboticists express identity and gender through their technology.) Calling herself a Robot Startup Evangelist, Andra is passionate about growing robotics, one startup at a time. Supported by key actors in the field including Erin Rapacki and Ryan Calo, Robot Launchpad aims to bridge the software, web and mobile startup worlds of Silicon Valley and San Francisco with the robotics community and the flourishing local maker sphere. She brings us into her world of lean startup methodology, minimum viable products, and tells us about the importance of women in science. Before launching Robot Launchpad, Keay completed her Master of Digital Cultures at the University of Sydney, specializing in Human-Robot Interactions. Passionate about robotics for a long time, she has also been running science and robot workshops for children since 1995, including coaching competition teams in MoonBots, FIRST LEGO League, and RoboCup Junior.

Last Monday (July 2nd), Hizook posted a thoughtful piece, Being Honest in Robot Videos: Motion Capture, Speedup Rates, and Teleoperation, which covers even more ground than its title suggests. The article doesn't take issue with unrealistic portrayals of robots in movies, nor with robots built as art or robot performances. Rather it calls into question what might be termed misrepresentation in videos depicting research robots, due to missing or inadequate notice of certain conditions, resulting in the creation of a false impression regarding the current state of the art and unrealistic expectations for the near future in the minds of the general public, undermining support for needed research on the premise that it's already been done. The article touches on the use of external localization and motion planning systems (as opposed to accomplishing the same feats entirely with on-board sensors and processors), the distinction between teleoperation, scripting, and autonomous operation, time compression (making the robot appear to be moving faster than it really is), and tethering (for physical support, for power, and/or for low-latency, high-bandwidth communications), and suggests some best practices for providing notice of each. The comments which follow the article are also worth reading.

Above, researchers at UPenn and MIT print blood vessels, using sugar. Once the sugar hardens, cells suspended in gel are added. Once the gel solidifies, the sugar is dissolved and removed. After the break, another video shows a process where powdered stainless steel is printed using a binder (weak glue), then infused with bronze.

Would you like to watch Curiosity pile up sand behind its wheels as it struggles up a slope, this video is about as close as you're likely to get, at least until Curiosity actually lands on Mars. For more, check out the JPLnews channel on YouTube.